


Almost as Cold as Death

by Athaerys



Series: Medical Anomalies [2]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: During Canon, Gen, Id tag reyn as a character but he has One line, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Light Angst, Rest of the Party Members Mentioned, ish, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25545571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athaerys/pseuds/Athaerys
Summary: During the party's trip through Makna Forest, Sharla talks with Shulk and is slowly growing more worried over himPart 2 of a series, however you do not need to read the first one to understand, but would recommend for full context!
Relationships: Sharla & Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Series: Medical Anomalies [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823695
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	Almost as Cold as Death

**Author's Note:**

> Its been, idk how long but Im finally getting around to working on this small series! No promises on the third part of this, but yknow it most likely will happen eventually.

Makna Forest was unlike anything Sharla had ever seen before. The dense jungle was massive and completely different to the trees on the Bionis’ Leg. As someone born and raised in the plains of Colony 6 and nearby the Bionis’ Leg, she wasn’t used to the plethora of trees as there weren’t many dense forests at all. The closest thing to what she was seeing was the forest that hid the Colony 6 refugees after they were all driven out, but even that pales in comparison to the jungle that lies in front of her. 

By the time the party, composed of four homs from the colonies, one mysterious girl, and the Heropon were about halfway through their trek to defeat the Telethia resting somewhere in the forest, did Sharla start to notice something was wrong with Shulk. 

Everyone else had changed into attire more suited to the hot and humid environment, as they were not used to the sweltering heat, however the blond had chosen to stay in his long-sleeved sweater and vest. Thinking back on it, she noticed that Shulk hardly ever changed his outfits. It was always his sweater and vest, and usually the only thing that would change is if he was wearing goggles or something else on his head. Nothing too drastic or something to better suit the current environment they were all in. 

As they were all nearing the suspected area where the Telethia was resting, Sharla noticed that Shulk was somewhat trailing behind everyone else and figured it would be the perfect time to ask him if everything’s ok. He has been acting off ever since Gaur Plains and she couldn’t ask earlier since they had to save Juju, he was constantly talking with Dickson during their trip through Satorl Marsh, and being in the Bionis was just unnerving so they just rushed their way through that area. 

But nothing stopped her now as she subtly fell behind everyone else who was forging ahead to let Shulk catch up to her. Once the two of them were walking side by side, she decided to ease her way into talking about what she was curious about, “Hey, Shulk!”

“Oh, hey Sharla.” 

“What were you thinking about?”

“You noticed I was in a train of thought?” Shulk asks with a confused look on his face, “Well truth be told I was wondering what is awaiting us up ahead. I’ve only fought the telethia’s offspring and only managed to succeed thanks to Alvis and him unlocking a new power of the Monado. Are we really prepared to face such a creature?”

“Well think of it like this, you know how to use the new power the Monado can use right?” Sharla asked, pausing in her walk just so Shulk can clearly listen to her.

“Yeah, I can.”

“And Melia was the one who initially hurt the Telethia, correct?”

“Yeah?”

“Then,” Sharla starts with a smile on her face, starting to walk again so they didn’t entirely lose the rest of the party. “We have nothing to worry about! Both you and Melia know how to handle a Telethia, and you can tell us what to look out for. That and I can always heal someone in case it manages to do some damage.”

With that logic, Shulk had brightened up and had a more positive outlook on the upcoming battle and did a small jog to catch up to Sharla’s pace, “Thank you Sharla, I guess I needed to hear some logic. I’m sure everyone is going to be ok.” 

“It’s no problem, I’m always happy to help, hehe!” Sharla clapped while giving her usual chuckle. “Though Shulk, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well,” Her voice suddenly had a lot less confidence as she slowed down from a brisk walk into something much slower, “Are you doing ok? I noticed you never changed into more climate-appropriate clothing, you must be hot under that heavy sweater! Especially today, it’s a massive heatwave and even in a lighter outfit  _ I’m  _ really hot.”

“Oh, I guess it is a little hotter than usual.” Shulk says, taking a second to look around his surroundings. “I am fine though Sharla, I’m just always colder than most so I hardly take the sweater off. Always have been like this. My heart rate is slower than most as well.” He shrugs, as if he didn’t just say something that is very concerning to the trained medic.

“That’s normal for you? Is it alright-”

“OI YOU TWO, TELETHIA UP AHEAD.” Reyn shouts at the two hanging back, interrupting Sharla from her question and startling Shulk. 

“Alright!” Shulk shouts back, “Sorry Sharla, but we have to catch up.”

“Don’t worry about it, we can talk more later, but let’s go beat that Telethia!” 

\----

After the long fight with the Telethia, Sharla considered going up to Shulk to continue their conversation from before and ask for some data, but decided against it. It would be better if Shulk didn’t worry much over the health of his body. That task was better suited to her. 

In the meantime though, she figured it might be best to keep a documented log of all of the medical anomalies surrounding Shulk. It could come in handy in case of editing some textbooks and research she studied when becoming a medic for more rare traits in Homs. That, and possibly as a way to make sure she isn’t slowly losing her sanity. 

While the party made a few detours to do some requests once they got back to Frontier Village, she decided to make a detour for herself. Keeping records in a physical book would be better than keeping everything as a memory that could fade over time. It would be easy to hide this log from the others as well by keeping it with her spare rifle equipment as she didn’t want to worry the others about Shulk’s condition. As much as he may not like it, he’s the leader of the group and having the rest constantly worry over him would not do well for morale. It would also put more stress on himself and that’s the last thing needed. 

Hopefully this log shouldn’t be used too much, best case scenario would be just the suspicions and events that have already happened. But Sharla has a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time she wrote in this book or the weirdest thing involving Shulk. 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for reading and if you have any feedback or comments, Id love to hear it! Id love to know how I can improve my writing, or just how you felt <3


End file.
